Pipet tips each in the shape of a rod-like product, one end of which is larger sized, are transported on a tray on which they are longitudinally and laterally arranged and take a vertically erect posture. The pipet tips are provided to an automatic tester in a state of being accommodated in the tray. Since the tray remains behind after the pipet tips are used, the tray has to be discarded. There has been a tremendously large quantity of pipet tips consumed in the entire country. Hence, trays have also been discarded in an extremely great quantity, which has resulted in high disposal expenses. This harmful influence of the disposal can be eliminated by adoption of a scheme in which pipet tips are not accommodated in a tray while taking a specific posture, but the pipet tips are transported, for example in bags or boxes and then set in a tester. When a tray is adopted, however, pipet tips are arranged in specific positions while taking a specific posture, which can allow a discharge mechanism with a simple construction for pipet tips in an automatic tester to be attained. On the other hand, pipet tips transported in bags or boxes are not arranged in a particular posture and position prior to setting them into an automatic tester leading to setting them therein in a non-controlled manner. Hence, the tester is required to take out each of the pipet tips in an individually particular posture fed into the tester in a non-controlled manner.
There has been developed a mechanism in which pipet tips, each taking a random posture, are taken out and arranged in a specific posture (see JP-A Nos. 2000-19182 and 2001-187629).
A discharge device for pipet tips described in JP-A No. 2000-19182 is constructed so that pipet tips fed at random are taken out individually by lifting up a single pipet tip at a time with a conveyor having a belt in an almost vertical posture and the separated pipet tip is dropped down and fed by the conveyor onto a slope. The slope is inclined at a downward gradient toward a slit and the pipet tip drops down into the slit. The slit is a clearance that prevents the flange of a pipet tip to pass therethrough. Therefore, a pipet tip is discharged from the slit while taking a posture in which the flange of the pipet tip is caught by the slit. The discharge device is complex in structure and high in manufacturing cost. An expensive discharge device can be employed as a device for feeding pipet tips fed at random into a tray. A complex, expensive mechanism is difficult to be adopted for a tester. This is because the number of testers are significantly more than the number of devices feeding pipet tips into trays. Therefore, a simple, inexpensive discharge device is required in order to omit a tray by installing a discharge device to a tester. Moreover, since, in this device, conventionally, a pipet tip is dropped down onto a slope, this device has a fault that a pipet tip can be damaged due to the shock.
A discharge device described in JP-A No. 2001-187629 is equipped with a rotary drum feeding pipet tips at random. The rotary drum has a scooping trough for pipet tips on the inner surface thereof. While the rotary drum is rotated, pipet tips are lifted up by the scooping trough and thereafter, dropped down from the scooping trough on slide rails. A pipet tip on the slide rails passes through a falling-down guide and then is dropped down at a determined position on the tray. The discharge device with this structure is also complex in structure and high in manufacturing cost. In addition, since a pipet tip is dropped, there has been a fault that a pipet tip can be easily damaged because of the shock.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the faults that the conventional discharge devices have had and it is an important object of the invention to provide a device for discharging a rod-like product one end of which is larger sized, such as a pipet tip, fed at random, capable of arranging rod-like products in a specific posture and discharging them with a extremely simple structure and at a reduced manufacturing cost.
It is another important object of the invention to provide a device for discharging a rod-like product, one end of which is larger sized, that is capable of arranging rod-like products fed at random in order and discharge them with reduction in shock and the consequent damage on the rod-like products.